Process for armoring cable



May 3,

A. DUNBAR ETAI- PROCESS FOR ARMORING CABLE Filed Aug. 13, 1957 Y @ab @adATTORNEYS 2,934,885" PROCESS FOR ARMORINGCABLE! Application August 13,1957', Serial'No. 678,009V 7 Claims. (Cl. 57-162)` This inventionrelates toA improvements in; armoring cable, and more particularlyrelatesto4 ak process for armoring cable with strands coatedwithbituminousor asphalt material or the like and preventing-xthecoatedstrands from sticking.

Ingthe armoring of cables with strands of metal covered with a coatingof asphalt-coal tar or the. like, itv isfthe usual practice to passtwenty-four of such coated strands to anxarmoring machine where the'strands are vtwisted together in a spiral fashion about a cable.lnzthismanu.- facturethecoated strands becomehot 'and stick-y:V becauseofl friction as the strands contact the guides-and; sheaves ofthearmoring machine. Thiscauses peelingortstripf ping of the coatingv andgumrning Vup ofthe guides' and sheaves and forces a stoppage ofthearmoring machine for a difficult cleaning operation. It hasv long beenya problem to overcome such stickinessl and to eliminate troubles causedthereby in the armoring machine:k As far as is known, however,previous.` attemptsgtosolve this problem have not proved entirelyAsuccessful.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to overcome theaforementioned defects. Another object is toarmor cable withbituminouscoated metal strandsand. prevent undesirable sticking of onestrandv to another and. to other objects during the process.

Another object is to armor cable with bituminous coated strandsmore-quickly and Vmore eiciently thanh'as previously been accomplished.Another object'. is to keep-thefarmoring machinerunning forlongerperiods of time without cleaning than has heretofore been possible. l

Other objects andadvantages of this'inventionwill further.y becomeapparent hereinafter and inthe drawings in which:

Fig. lrepresentsfa View: inside elevatiorrfandffpartly diagrammatic ofapparatus constructed forf'practicing the present invention;

Fig. 2 represents an enlarged sectional viewiA4 taken as indicated byVthe liliesk and arrows II-.IIy whichnappearA in Fig- 1;.

Fig. 3 represents anrenlarged sectional view, taken as indicated'by thelines and arrows III-IILwhichLappearin Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 represents adiagrammatic view ofapparatus for practicing this invention.

Although specific terms are'A used forclarity inV the followingdescription, thesefterms are intendedl to refer only to the structureshown in the-fdrawings'and'tarenot intended todene'orflimit the scope ofthe invention.

Turnngvnowto theI specific embodiment' of thein= ntunber-Ildesignatesgenerally an adhesive coating machine (Fig. 4), andthe numbers 12 and13i designate respectivelyanon-adhesivecoating machineg` andeanarmoring. machine.. An .armor wire 14 whiChris-.Prefers ably of hightensile steel and which is covered with a cotton braid psheath :isimpregnated L with=hot asphalt-coal rates Patent() i 2,934,885 PatentedMay 3, 1960 ice tar in the adhesive coating machine 11'l This operationprovides armor wire 14 with a bituminous or asphalt coating 15. If'desired, the cotton braid sheath is omitted and the bituminous coatingis applied' directly to armor wire 14.

Then bituminous coated armor wire 14 is vpassed to non-adhesive coatingmachine 12 where it is provided with a non-adhesive coating 16. Afterthis, wire 14 is dried and is wound on spools. To armor a cable, aplurality, usually twenty-four, of spool'sof'armor wire 14 with coatingsI5 and 16 are passed to anv armoring machine 13. Here each` coatedarmorwire 14' is operated'upon byguides and sheaves and the.wires,14 aretwisted about a coaxial cable in a spiral fashion to armor the cable.After this, the armored cable is given a coating of asphalt-coal tar.

Turning to the non-adhesive coating machine 12 shown in Fig. 1, machine12 is provided with a tank 18 which contains a liquid 21 which isbrought into tank 18 through pipe.22. Also provided is an overow pipe23.

Y' Bositionedin, tank 18 is a wheel24 which-isrotatable about ahorizontal axis 2S and hasV formed in its perimeterta groove 26. Mountedabove wheel 24 is a bnush 27 having bristles 28. Brush 27 and bristles28 arekv so positioned that bituminous coated wire 14 passes betweenthebrush and the groove 26 as. is shown in Fig. 2. Wheel 24 has, itsv lowerportionsubmerged in liquid 21 and the rotation of wheel 24 brings liquid21 intoecontact with bristles 28 and with coating 15 ofwire 14 to form'a lilmoftheliquid 21 on coating 15. This film of liquid 21 forms coating16.

w Inthe'practiceof? the present invention, the compositionoftheanti-adhesive material used in forming coating 1'6ris important.Therefore, preferred examples of suit'- ablefanti-adhesive compositionfor use in the practice of theL presentinvention are set forth below.

Bi Metallic salt:

' Basic aluminum acetate, Al(CH3O2)2OH 186 .The `basicaluminum,'acetateof B wasdissolved in a p art of ;thefwater content listed for the waxemulsion A,y and. then added with stirring to the wax emulsion v entionVselected for illustration in the drawings, Ythe g5 Example 2 Zincacetate and zirconium acetate, respectively, were used in place of thebasic aluminum acetate of Example 1,Y in` each case in the amount of 186parts by weight dissolved ina portion of the water content listed forthe wax-emulsion A of Example 1.

Example 3. A..` Wax emulsionn. Parts by wt.l Refinedparain 600 Starch 50AlrospersellP (fatty amine condensate) (Alrose Chemical Co.) 12

Neutronyx. 600 active aromatic polyglycol ether) (Onyx Oil & ChemicalCo.) 12

Atlas G-3920Y (polyoxyethylene oleyl ether) 12 Example 4 A. Waxemulsion: Parts by wt.

Refined paraffin 180 Oxidized microcrystalline parafinA (Crown 36)Emulsifier 40 Water 720 B. Metallic salt: i

Basic aluminum acetate, A1(C2H3O2)2OH 24() One part by weight of themetallic salt of B dissolved. in a small portion of the water of A wasmixed with 4 parts by weight of the wax emulsion of A. The emulsifierfor the refined parain was non-ionic consisting of a mixture in equalparts of polyoxyethylene oleyl ether (Atlas G3920) and the monostearateof sorbitan (Span 60). Both products are made and sold by Atlas PowderCo. of Wilmington, Delaware.

Example 5 A. Wax emulsion: Parts by wt.

' Ouricury wax 289.5 Refined paraffin '-a 144.5

Polyethylene glycol monostearate (molecular weight 1000) 102 Tween 40(sorbitan monopalmitate) 25.2 Formaldehyde 20 Water 1494 B. Metallicsalt: Percent solution Basic aluminum acetate, Al(C2H3O2)2OH 28 One partby weight of a 28% solution of basic aluminum acetate is mixed with fourparts by weight of the wax emulsion of A although it should be notedthat aluminum acetate solution is miscible with the emulsion of A in allproportions. The resulting composition provides a film which dries witha gloss which is advantageous under certain conditions of use.

The composition of the anti-adhesive material used in the practice ofthe present invention consists broadly of a liquid containing a watersoluble waxy material or an emulsified water insoluble material and thecomponent which on drying will form a water resistant lm containing ametallic salt of an acid selected from the group consisting ofhydrochloric acid, hydrobromic acid, formic acid and acetic acid, withthe metal being selected from the group consisting of aluminum, zinc andzirconium.

The waxy film and metallic salt thus deposited form in the pores and onthe surface of coating 16 as either the hydroxide or the oxide of themetal salt. It has been discovered that such an oxide or hydroxide waxyfilm has the peculiar and unexpected property of resisting the normaladhesion which occurs between wires 14 with coating 15.

In the above examples it should be noted that carnauba wax, sugar canewax, or equivalent synthetic waxes may be used in conjunction with therefined parain or in place thereof.

It has been found inthe practice of this invention that undesirablesticking has been eliminated in armoring machines to such an extent thatthe production of the armoring machine has been increased by 25 percent.On unwinding the spools of armor wire, non-adhesive coating 16 helps toprevent stripping or peeling of the braid as the armor wire comes offthe spool. Coating 16 also helps prevent gumming up of the guides andthe sheaves in the armoring machine. Previously, shutting down thearmoring machine would cause the armor wire braid and its bituminouscoating to stick to the guides and sheaves. On subsequent starting ofthe armoring machine, this ananas stickng would cause the cotton braidto pull or peel from wire 14. Now, with the use of coating 16, this doesnot happen. Very little of the coatings 15, 16 are transferred from wire14 to the guides and sheaves of the armoring machine. Further, coating16 acts as a lubricant in the armoring operation.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. A process of armoring a cable comprising the steps of applying acoating of bituminous material to a strand; applying to the outersurface of said bituminous material a film comprising an aqueoussolution of a salt of a metal selected from the group consisting ofaluminum, zinc and zirconium, in combination with a binder comprising awaxy material; drying said film to an adherent non-adhesive condition;and twisting the strand together with similar strands about a cable.

2. A process of armoring a cable comprising the steps of applying acoating of bituminous material to a strand; applying to the outersurface of said bituminous material a film comprising an aqueoussolution of a metallic acetate selected from the group consisting ofaluminum acetate, zinc acetate and zirconium acetate, in combinationwith a binder comprising a waxy material; drying said film to anadherent non-adhesive condition; and twisting the strand together withsimilar strands about a cable. Y

3. A process of armoring a cable comprising the steps of applying acoating of bituminous material to a strand; applying to the outersurface of said material a tilm comprising an aqueous solution of ametallic salt of an acid selected from the group consisting ofhydrochloric acid, hydrobromic acid, formic acid and acetic acid, withthe metal being selected from the group consisting of aluminum, zinc andzirconium, in combination with a binder comprising a waxy material;drying said film to an adherent non-adhesive condition; and twisting thestrand together with similar strands about a cable.

4. A process of armoring a cable comprising the steps of applying acoating of asphalt-coal tar to a strand; applying to the outer surfaceof said tar a film comprising an aqueous solution of a metallic salt ofan acid selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid,hydrobromic acid, formic acid and acetic acid, with the metal beingselected from the group consistingrof aluminum, zinc and zirconium, incombination with a binder comprising a waxy material; drying said filmto an adherent non-adhesive condition; and twisting the strand togetherwith similar strands about a cable.

5. In the process of armoring a cable with a plurality of strandscovered with an asphalt material, the method of coating the outerasphalt surface of each of said strands'with av film comprising anaqueous solution of a metallic acetate selected from the groupconsisting of aluminum acetate, zinc acetate and zirconium acetate, incombination with a binder comprising a waxy material.

6. In the process of armoring a cable with a plurality of strandscovered with an asphalt material, the method of coating the outerasphalt surface of each of said Strands with a film comprising anaqueous solution of a salt of a metal selected from a group consistingof aluminum, zinc and zirconium, in combination with a binder comprisinga waxy material.

7. In the process of armoring a cable with a plurality of strandscovered with an asphalt material, the method of coating the outerasphalt surface of each of said strands with a film comprising anaqueous solution of a metallic salt of an acid selected from the groupconsisting of hydrochloric acid, hydrobromic acid, formic acid andacetic acid, with the metal being selected from the group consisting ofaluminum, zinc and zirconium, in combination.' with a binder comprisinga waxy material.

y (References on following page)` References Cited n the file of thispatent 2,254,762 UNITED STATES PATENTS igg'gg; 1,420,911 Davis et a1June 27, 1922 21655439 2,124,993 Youmans July 26, 1938 5 2,842 9322,155,403 cook Apr. 25, 1939 2,248,123 Sackner July 8, 1941 6. ThielSept. 2, 1941 Thiel Dec. 30, 1941 Powell Sept. 16, 1947 Angiolino et alSept. 29, 1953 Owens July 15, 1958

